new and need help

[rob hart]

hi folks

i'm a newbie and unsure of the procedures here.here's a bit about myself.

i do have extensive travel by motorcycle under my belt, but not to south africa. in particular cape town.

i've ridden around the world in 1980 on a modified 1975 goldwing. spent about a year on the road (mostly no roads), ridden the three flags classic three times, six times to alaska and 4 coast to coast runs in canada. ridden all of united states with exception of hawaii...and the list continues to grow.

now however i'm somewhat long in the tooth. been riding for over 50 yrs.

for those living in cape town and in other areas of south africa...is safety and security a big issue? now before everyone goes a little wonky...i am fully aware of the dangers and steps to be taken in some of the other more iffy locales in the world.

my young niece and her two year old son are planning on moving to cape town in july for 12 months and know absolutely no-one at all there. she will be going to the university of cape town.

i will be renting a bike and intend on spending a month or so checking out the area and botswana as well.

i've read how difficult it can for individuals in south africa. can anyone shed some light on this for me. my nieces parents are quite concerned. they're not so concerned about me as i AM a bit of an adrenulin junkie

thanks guys...any ifo will be most appreciated

rob

[Flyingdoctor]

Hi Rob follow this link to the Africa section. Maybe there's some info there.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/lin...tryInformation
I imagine there is a large ex-pat community in Cape town, try contacting them I'm sure they'll be more than happy to welcome you and give you some advice. Good luck to you and your niece.

[rob hart]

thanks for the welcome...i tried the link but not too much there. hopefully some one will reply who lives there.

will keep trying though.

don't have too much worry about myself as i'll be moving along a fair bit. SHE is the one in stationary mode.

cheers and thanks again

rob

[Flyingdoctor]

If you get no takers try starting a new thread with advice needed or who's in Cape town in the title. Generally people steer away from using "help" in the title unless they're in trouble. The beauty of this site is there will be someone in Cape town to help you. If you're going to Botswana someone will have been through there too recently so you should get the advice you need. Stick with it.

[JeanVisser]

Hi Rob,

UCT very centrally located in CT, the Cape is a very nice place to live. She must just be careful, once settled in Cape Town it's very hard to move anywhere else because the lifestyle is so laid back!

Yes, there are places to be best avoided but you will pick that up pretty quickly. Nice roads for riding as well, enjoy!

[Caminando]

Hi Rob

welcome.....

[ta-all-the-way]

Hi there, I'm a capetonian living in France now for the past 14 years. South Africa is the rainbow nation. There are some radical differences, granted.
It still remains a country that is very multi cultural. This has helped bring south africans together, no matter what colour or creed. I would compare South Africa to the UK or even australia. Tourism is very important to south africa and south africans. One has to mingle in order to enjoy it. Anyone not making an effort to intergrate in any country could find it scary. I think if you keep the basics in mind about travelling, ex: dont ride at night, don't ride through townships, don't run out of petrol in the middle of nowhere, don't feed the baboons. Don't get out of your car in a game park, you'll be okay. If you want some in detail information, prehaps Rotary club addresses or stuff like that send me a pm or email me. I'll try and get you some leads of people that you can meet on your travels. If you still feel dubious. Keep to the garden route from Durban all the way down to Cape Town, and you'll be fine. Don't go walking around with your gucci glasses and latest portable telephone on your ear, it could cause some envy and you could get it nicked. Like I said it's like anywhere. You have to be humble, and remember it's africa, we're one big family. Respect is priority in africa. Be this way and you won't have any problems.

Happy travels

ta-all-the-way

[Nigel Marx]

Hi Rob.
Like you I have spent many years in the saddle. In fact, I counted up a few weeks ago and realised that it's actually 40 years this year so that's a great excuse for a celebration.
I'm sure you will find this place (the HUBB) a great source of information, support and entertainment. Be sure to read some of the Blogs (over there <----- at the left of the screen somewhere, scroll up and down).

There is another part of Horizons Unlimited which you may not know about. Click here: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/com...tEnglish.shtml
It's the community section. Scroll down the list to South Africa. Select a community (unfortunately you can only select them one at a time so you will have to go back a few times to contact them all.) Every member of that community will get a copy of the email, and they will respond, IF and only if they want to. Instant friends!

The most common complaint I hear from the communities is that not enough people use them.

Good luck with your travels.

Kind regards

Nigel in NZ